bad habtis
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Leaving the Past Behind
Key Verse
Philippians 3:13
Additional Verses
Luke 9:62; Hebrews 12:1-2; Hebrews 6:1
Materials Needed
- Deer antlers
Object Lesson
Have you ever had a bad habit that you have tried to get rid of? (Share about a bad habit that you have had.) It is not easy to get over it. Somethings there are things that happen in out past that we just need to leave behind. Maybe it is a bad habit, maybe it is someone who hurt us, maybe it is something else.
(Show the deer antlers.)
Do you know what these are? They are deer antlers. Did you know that deer get a new set of antlers every year? Each year they grow a brand new set of antlers and then eventually fall off and a new set begins to grow. I do since I’ve spent so much time in deer hunting blinds that I’ve actually seen a deer lose their antlers.
Did you know that sometimes we should be kind of like deer? There are certain things that we need to drop and leave behind like the deer leave their antlers behind. We need to leave some bad habits behind. Maybe we need to leave a relationship behind. Maybe we need to forgive someone for hurting us and leave that behind.
In Philippians 3:13 it says that we should be leaving the past behind and look forward to what is ahead. We need to start new habits. Habits of reading and studying the Bible. Habits of prayer and fasting. Habits of helping those in need.
What are some things that you need to leave behind? What things can you work to build in your life that are good and pleasing to God?
The Clean Shirt
Key Verse
2 Corinthians 6:14
Additional Verses
1 Corinthians 15:33; James 4:4; Ephesians 5:6-14; Philippians 2:15; Psalm 26:4-5
Materials Needed
- Two clean T-Shirts (You could also use two towels if you wanted.)
Preparation
Take one of the T-shirts and rub wet paint and grease all over it. You can bring it in a plastic or paper bag.
Object Lesson
Do you like my t-shirt? It is brand new and perfectly clean! This is just like our heart when Jesus forgives us. He makes us perfectly clean inside. He removes all of our sin and stains.
Now what do you think would happen if I saw my friend and he had just finished painting his house and working on his car and he was all filthy. (Take out the dirty shirt.) What do you think would happen if I have him a hug? Do you think that all of my clean would rub off on him? You don’t? Why not?
(Take the dirty shirt and rub it against your clean shirt.)
My clean shirt didn’t make this dirty shirt clean did it? The dirty shirt made my clean on dirty!
The Bible asks us in 2 Corinthians 6:14 what fellowship light can have with darkness and warns us in 2 Corinthians 6:17 to not touch something unclean! Why? Because usually our good does not rub off on them but their bad habits rub off on us.
If you have a best friend that always swears or lies or steals you may start doing that soon too! We will often pick up other people’s bad habits.
We should not totally isolate ourselves because God wants is to share our faith, but we have to be careful because if we are best friends with someone who is far from God they will often pull us away from God too.
D5 Creation